Good Grub

Festival for Traditional Nutrition

London – March 21st

Doors open: 9  Event: 10-6

£40 advance, £50 at door (Concessions Available)

The Camden Centre, Bidborough St, London WC1H 9AU

World Renowned Speakers

The Weston A Price Foundation® campaigns for wise traditions in food, farming & the healing arts, challenging politically correct nutrition & the diet dictocrats.

Sally Fallon Morell, MA, president and founder of the Weston A. Price Foundation, author of the bestselling cookbook Nourishing Traditions and an internationally acclaimed nutrition educator.

Sir Julian Rose, pioneering organic farmer, and renowned countryside and raw milk campaigner. Julian is chairing the event.  Julian will discuss campaign issues in Britain and across Europe with Jadwiga Lopata, Poland’s top countryside campaigner.  Jadwiga and Julian have campaigned successfully for, amongst other things, GMO-free Poland.

Natasha Campbell-McBride, MD, founder of the Cambridge Nutrition Clinic, and author of Gut & Psychology Syndrome (GAPS), her revolutionary nutrition program for mental and digestive wellness and the treatment of depression, autism, ADD, ADHD, and schizophrenia.

Barry Groves, PhD, author of Trick and Treat, the explosive book on why conventional “healthy diets” are ruining people’s lives and making food manufacturers and healthcare providers rich.

Stalls with information & books.

Bar: Raw Jersey cow, goat and buffalo milk, milkshakes and real ale.

Website: Wise Traditions UK 2010

For more information, contact Philip Ridley on PhilRidley@hotmail.com or 02076821093

Tags: diet, farming, food, healing, health, nutrition, weston a price

“If people let the government decide what foods they eat and what medicines they take, their bodies will soon be in as sorry a state as the souls who live under tyranny.”
Thomas Jefferson (1778)

Tags: food, government, health, nanny state

A dramatic shift in farm subsidies by French President Nicolas Sarkozy looks set to bring healthier foods to consumers in France. Now food campaigners are asking when Prime Minister Gordon Brown plans to do the same for UK citizens.

This week the French government announced that from next year it would snatch back 20 per cent of the billions of euros paid in subsidies to big grain producers and give it instead to livestock graziers, hill farmers and organic producers. The surprise move will bring real health benefits to French consumers, who are already among the healthiest and longest-living in Europe.

The small farms in line for the extra cash have one thing in common – they all raise livestock the natural way by grazing them on fresh pasture. Research evidence is now accumulating that meat and dairy foods produced this way are rich in the nutrients which protect against today’s most intractable
diseases.

These health-boosting nutrients include a range of antioxidants including vitamin E, which protects against diabetes, heart disease and cancer; omega-3 fatty acids, which protect against heart disease; and a substance called CLA, a powerful cancer fighter.

Over the past 20 years levels of these nutrients have fallen in western diets leading to a big increase in degenerative diseases, including type 2 diabetes now reaching epidemic proportions.

One of the reasons for this loss of nutrients is the growing trend for beef and dairy farmers to take their animals off their natural pastures and feed them on cheap grain in concrete yards. Thanks to EU grain subsidies Britain’s surplus of pesticide-ridden cereals is now so big that more than half of it has to be fed to livestock.

This is not only damaging to the animals and the consumers who will eventually eat the foods, it is also harmful to the environment and the health of the planet. The bold French move to strip away some of the cereal subsidies will give a boost to the nation’s health, say food campaigners.

Graham Harvey – author of The Carbon Fields which spells out the health benefits of pasturefed foods – has welcomed President Sarkozy’s action. He said: “Once more the French, who are the longest living people in Europe, have been prepared to put human health before the profits of big corporations. It’s the global pesticide companies who benefit most from subsidies to cereal growers.

“And once more the British government is failing to protect the nation’s health by standing up for consumers against powerful interest groups. As Britain faces an epidemic of obesity and diabetes that threatens to overwhelm the NHS, the politicians fail to make the connection with falling food standards.

“The answer’s obvious. If you want to live to a ripe old age, the best advice is to move to the other side of the Channel.”

Books by Graham Harvey:

The Carbon Fields: How Our Countryside Can Save Britain

The Killing of the Countryside Winner of the BP Natural World Book Prize

Tags: EU, farmer, farming, farms, food, France, French, health, organic, pasture

	Human health threatened as farm use of life-saving antibiotics increases again

Government figures just published show another big jump in the veterinary use of two of the most important classes of antibiotics in human medicine. [1]

The latest data shows that, in 2007, the veterinary use of fluoroquinolone antibiotics increased by 20% compared with 2006, and the use of cephalosporin antibiotics increased by 10%. [2] [3]

This is the sixth time in the last seven years that both fluoroquinolone and cephalosporin use has increased. In comparison with 2001, fluoroquinolone use in 2007 is up by 48% and cephalosporin use up by 138%. This has occurred despite large falls in livestock numbers over the same period. Since 2001 [4] pig numbers have fallen by 17%, poultry by 7%, cattle by 3% and sheep by 8%. [5]

With rising antibiotic resistance in human and veterinary medicine, and very few new antibiotics coming on to the market, fluoroquinolones and modern cephalosporins are two of the most effective classes of antibiotics remaining for treating life-threatening infections, such as meningitis in children, or severe campylobacter, shigella or salmonella infections. As a result, these drugs have been classified as ‘critically important antibiotics for human medicine’ by the World Health Organisation (WHO). The WHO have also said that they are two of the three antibiotic classes for which there should be the greatest sense of urgency for developing strategies to preserve their effectiveness in human medicine. [6]

Mounting evidence that antibiotic-resistant bacteria are spreading from farm animals to humans has recently led the European Medicines Agency (EMEA) to run consultations on the veterinary use of fluoroquinolones and modern cephalosporins. In both cases, the EMEA’s advisory committee expressed concerns about resistant bacteria spreading from animals to humans and called for these antibiotics to be used as prudently as possible in farming. [7] [8] [9]

In contrast to the situation with fluoroquinolones and cephalosporins, the latest data for overall farm antibiotic use do show a welcome 4% fall since last year, although this can be partly explained by lower livestock numbers.

The Soil Association welcomes the fact that finally the Government’s statistics also include valuable information on the relative amount of antibiotics used in different animal species. From this, it can be estimated that approximately 64% of all farm antibiotic use is in pigs, 32% in poultry, 3% in cattle, 1% in fish and less than 0.5% in sheep. [10]

These figures show the huge reliance of the intensive pig and poultry industries on antibiotics. On the other hand, grazing animals like cattle and sheep, are generally farmed less intensively, with greater access to the outdoors. As a result, they develop fewer diseases and do not need as many antibiotics.

Richard Young, Soil Association policy adviser, said:
“We estimate that a move to less intensive, more health-oriented livestock farming, could reduce farm antibiotic use by up to 75%. This would help to safeguard the future effectiveness of critically important drugs, and over the coming years, save countless human lives.

“The Government needs to get a grip on the situation quickly. Despite a warning from the House of Lords in 1998 on the veterinary use of fluoroquinolones and the increasing concern of the WHO and European regulators more recently, it has taken no effective action, and the use of these life-saving drugs is now increasing exponentially, year after year.

“We accept there are occasions when these antibiotics should legitimately be used on farms to prevent the death or suffering of large mammals like cattle and pigs. But it is quite clear that through ignorance of the long-term consequences, many vets and farmers are still choosing them just because they are modern medicines, when for most conditions there are equally effective alternatives.”

References:

[1] Defra press release (20 Aug 2008) ‘Sales Of Veterinary Antimicrobials In The UK In 2007′
http://www.defra.gov.uk/news/2008/080820b.htm

[2] Cephalosporins are the most modern penicillin-type antibiotics. They are effective against a large number of infectious bacteria, but because of their importance in human medicine they should be used only in limited circumstances in order to preserve their effectiveness. Although resistance to any cephalosporin is considered a serious problem, the greater concerns relate to the more modern third and fourth generation cephalosporins. The Government’s figures on the veterinary use of antibiotics, however, do not differentiate between the different generations of cephalosporins, so the figures quoted in this press release apply to all cephalosporins. Nevertheless, earlier this year the Government’s Veterinary Medicines Directorate provided us with statistics showing that the veterinary use of third and fourth generation cephalosporins increased by 209% between 1999 and 2006. Fluoroquinolones are the most modern quinolone-type antibiotics. The quinolones are one of the very few new classes of antibiotics to be developed during the last 30 years. The US has banned the use of fluoroquinolones in poultry production, Finland severely restricts them and regulators in Australia have refused to allow their use in food animals entirely.

[3] Figures in Veterinary Medicines Directorate, 2008. ‘Sales of antimicrobial products authorised for use as veterinary medicines, antiprotozoals, antifungals, growth promoters and coccidiostats, in the UK in 2007.’
http://www.vmd.gov.uk/Publications/Antibiotic/salesanti07.pdf

[4] A comparison is being made with 2001 for livestock numbers and antibiotic consumption because this is the first year for which there are comparable, fully revised, livestock numbers.

[5] Figures for 2001 in Veterinary Medicines Directorate, 2007. ‘Sales of antimicrobial products authorised for use as veterinary medicines, antiprotozoals, antifungals, growth promoters and coccidiostats, in the UK in 2006.’
http://www.vmd.gov.uk/Publications/Antibiotic/salesanti06.pdf

[6] World Health Organisation, 2007. ‘Critically important antimicrobials for human medicine – categorization for the development of risk management strategies to contain antimicrobial resistance due to non-human antimicrobial use’, Report of the second WHO Expert meeting, Copenhagen, 29-31 May 2007, http://www.who.int/foodborne_disease/resistance/antimicrobials_human.pdf

[7] Committee for Medicinal Products for Veterinary Use, 2006. ‘Reflection paper on the use of fluoroquinolones in food-producing animals in the European Union: development of resistance and impact on human and animal health’, European Medicines Agency, http://www.emea.europa.eu/pdfs/vet/srwp/18465105en.pdf

[8] Committee for Medicinal Products for Veterinary Use, 2008. ‘Reflection paper on the use of third and fourth generation cephalosporins in food-producing animals in the European Union: development of resistance and impact on human and animal health’, European Medicines Agency.

[9] While all European organic standards already restrict the use of antibiotics on farms (routine prophylactic use is not permitted, the frequency of therapeutic use is restricted and extended withdrawal periods are required after their use before animals can be slaughtered), the Soil Association has further limited the use of fluoroquinolones on farms it certifies. These antibiotics can only be used with the organisation’s permission, and only on individual animals. Permission to use them should be discussed in the annual health plan, but in cases where they are needed to save lives or prevent suffering, this permission can be sought retrospectively. From January 2009, similar restrictions will be introduced by the Soil Association for the use of third and fourth generation cephalosporins.

[10] The species breakdown provided in the Veterinary Medicines Directorate report is not entirely complete – 7% of the antibiotic products sold for use in food animals only are not broken down by species (there is additionally a similar amount of antibiotics sold for use in food animals and pets which is not broken down by species). Our estimate of the percentages used in each food-animal species may not therefore be entirely accurate, but it gives a reasonably good reflection of the true situation.

Tags: antibiotics, farm, farmers, food, health

A study to assess the impact that front-of-pack nutritional labelling is having on people’s food choices has taken a step forward – with the contract to carry out work being awarded to research company BMRB.

The project has been commissioned by the Food Standards Agency, with backing from the Nutrition Strategy Steering Group, which is jointly chaired by Public Health Minister Dawn Primarolo and FSA Chair, Deirdre Hutton. The work is being managed by an independent Project Management Panel (PMP).

The PMP has selected BMRB to carry out the research, following the completion of a thorough research tendering exercise, which began in May 2007.

Chair of the PMP, Sue Duncan, says: ‘After careful evaluation of tenders submitted, and on behalf of the FSA, we have selected BMRB to conduct this research. They will be working in association with the University of Surrey.

‘This is a challenging and complex piece of work. The PMP will work closely with BMRB throughout the project to ensure the research delivers results that are robust and relevant.

‘The next stage will be to work with BMRB to fine tune the research design and we are looking forward to working together on this exciting and important evaluation.’

Public Health Minister, Dawn Primarolo, says: ‘We know that clear, simple front-of-pack labelling helps consumers make healthier choices and make a positive contribution to a healthy diet. This research will go further to show the most effective way of labelling foods, and will be crucial in making the case for a single labelling system.

‘We are working closely with industry on labelling, and hope that they will go further and introduce the best way of labelling in line with what this research recommends.’

Chair of the FSA, Deirdre Hutton, says: ‘I am very pleased that this study is about to begin and will be extremely interested to see the conclusions that are drawn from it.

‘This is a groundbreaking piece of social research and should give us real insight on the way in which consumers approach purchasing decisions. This will be critical if we are to help people make healthier choices.’

The independent research will look at shoppers’ understanding of the main types of front-of-pack nutrition labels in use in the UK (traffic lights, monochrome Guideline Daily Amounts (GDAs) and traffic light colour-coded GDAs) and how they use them. It will assess how these labels contribute to healthier eating choices and which elements of the different schemes best help people to correctly interpret nutritional information on food.

The research will consist of qualitative and quantitative elements and will look at how consumers use these labels in the retail environment and at home.

Following comments from stakeholders, the PMP is now working with BMRB to finalise the detail of the project. The fieldwork is expected to commence shortly and the research will be carried out in phases.

The final report is expected to be completed by the end of December 2008

Tags: food, health, labelling, packaging, traffic lights